Whispers from the Dark
by SnowYuri
Summary: Seeking help from the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, Rey arrives on Ahch-To in hopes that she won't return to the Resistance without newfound knowledge. Meanwhile Kylo Ren must answer for his failures in retrieving the map to Skywalker and ending the Resistance in a timely manner.
1. Chapter 1

Dorn watched her arrive on the island, the freighter touching down just on the edge of the southernmost cliff. As soon as the ship landed he raced off up the cliffside to alert his master. Dorn found him meditating on the small altar-like cliffside that overlooked the water with a view of the horizon. "Master, a ship has just arrived."

The master remained silent so long that Dorn began to think he had not heard him. "Go to your quarters, Dorn," the master said, his eyes lingering on the horizon. "If I haven't returned in fifteen minutes, burn down the tree and leave."

"R2, stay here with Chewie. Keep the ship idling just in case…" Rey didn't know why she wanted the ship ready to go but the thought of it comforted her. "Just in case," she said and smiled faintly at Chewie, hoping that was enough to let him know that she knew what she was doing. Chewie grunted in understanding. "I'll be back," she said and walked over to the cliffside to begin climbing it.

Ten minutes she'd been climbing the steps and already her legs were begging for rest. Sweat was beginning to drip down her face and arms, her clothes stuck to her body and when she looked up from the stone steps she expected to see the sand wastelands of Jakku. Instead she saw the vast, endless ocean stretching out toward the horizon and she kept climbing.

When she made it to the top, where the stone turned into a platform of lush green grass, she was so tired that she almost didn't notice the figure standing at the edge of the cliff. She couldn't see their face, or any part of them for that matter thanks to the robes. But she didn't need to see their face to know who it was. "Luke Skywalker," Rey said, the words leaving her mouth with a certainness that made herself uneasy.

The figure at the edge of the cliff slowly turned to Rey, its hands raising to lower their hood.

Rey didn't know what to expect. A glint of sunlight caused her to briefly squint her eyes. She saw the robotic hand the sunlight had reflected off of and for a second thought Luke was entirely robotic. But then she saw the salt and pepper beard on the rough and wrinkled face of the man who brought down the Empire.

"Who are you?" Luke said but his voice serious.

"My name's Rey. You-"

"Rey what?"

She thought about whether or not she should lie, to give him a fake name. But then she shook her head, "Just Rey."

"Okay, Just Rey. Why are you here?"

"Your sister Leia sent me. She needs your help."

The sound of his sister's name alone made Luke want to go down to whatever ship Rey arrived on and go to her now. But he knew he couldn't, not now. Maybe not ever.

"I can't help her." Luke moved past Rey towards the cliff steps.

Rey turned and watched him go, stunned by his response. She was sure that he would agree to help without a moment's hesitation.

"Wait!" she called after him.

"No," Luke said, starting down the steps.

Rey followed after him, trying to catch up to him as they both descended the steps. "Leia needs you. The Resistance needs you. Without you the First Order will control the last remaining free systems within months. Maybe even weeks. The galaxy needs you."

About thirty steps down the cliff Luke stopped and pressed both of his hands against the cliffside. A small portion of the rockface, about five feet high and four feet across, pushed inward revealing an opening to a tunnel. Luke went through without another word. As soon as he was out of sight the rock began to shift back into its original spot. Rey raced down the steps to slide inside before it closed but it was too late. Just before she reached the proper step, the rock settled. She pushed against the cliff just as she'd seen Luke do before but it didn't budge. She closed her eyes and pictured the door opening in her mind but the stone remained still and locked.

"We need you!" she yelled at the wall.

No one responded.

Then she said seemingly to herself, her voice meek: "I need you."

It was raining now and harder every second. Grey clouds rolled in from the south and settled above the island. Rey sat in the pilot seat of the Falcon with her legs kicked up onto the console, watching the rain slide down the windshield. Slumped in the seat beside her, Chewie snored with his mouth hung open. Outside the cockpit window she could see the ocean waves crash against the rocky shore below. Off to the left was a small dirt landing that wrapped around the side of another cliff.

Rey stared out of the water, contemplating what she should do next. She considered powering up the Falcon and heading back to D'qar. But then they'd be in the same position as before she left. Already she imagined a second encounter with Luke, most of them going as unsuccessful as the first. In one possibility, the one she liked the most, she'd fall asleep and wake to the sound of knocking on the Falcon's main door. She'd open the door to find Luke telling her that he would help. That-

A knock came from the back of the ship. It startled Rey but Chewie snored on. She sat up in her seat, her mind torn from her fantasies, wondering if the knock she'd just heard was real. The knock came again and she got up from her chair, unholstering her blaster. She approached the main ship door and said, "Who's there?" She was mostly sure that she wasn't in any danger but her long stretch of fantasy and the current weather sent a surreal, unsettling atmosphere.

"A friend," the person on the other side of the door said.

Rey pushed a button beside the door and the metal portal slid open. On the other side was a robed figure, their face darkened by their hood. In either hand they carried two bowls, steam rising from both of them.

"Food. Should keep you satisfied until you leave in the morning. You can't leave now, not with the weather the way it is. Trying to get through the atmosphere now would be suicide."

Rey took the two bowls from the person. As soon as she did, the stranger walked down the ramp of the Falcon and back into the rain.

"Wait," Rey called after. She looked around for somewhere to set the bowls down but didn't want to lose the mystery person to another series of hidden caves so she set the the bowls onto the floor and chased after them.

Immediately the rain drenched her. At first she thought she'd already lost the stranger to the weather, the darkness of the clouds and the intensity of the rain made seeing more than a few feet ahead difficult. But then she made out the muddy, ghost like shape moving through the downpour and she started running. She called out for them to wait again but her voice was drowned out by the rain. She ran after them, nearly slipping from the muddy surface several times. She saw them round the corner of a cliffside and disappear. She thought surely they'd be gone by the time she too rounds the corner.

She flinched, startled when she came around the cliffside and nearly ran into the person. They faced her. Rey could see their gray eyes beneath the hood, their young complexion. "Leave here first thing the morning. The master won't help you. You're wasting your time. I'm sorry." The stranger walked away.

"Why? Why won't he help me?" Rey said, her voice raised to be heard over the rain.

"Because the Galaxy has enough problems without adding you to the mix."

Rey stood alone in the rain, watched the stranger disappear into the gray. A grunt came from behind her. When she turned she saw Chewie standing there.

"I'm alright," Rey said. "I'm…" she looked in the direction the stranger had took to leave. "I'm alright."

The next morning Rey climbed the steps to where she first met Luke. At the top of the steps she went straight across the flat grassland and back onto a rockier terrain. For half an hour she traversed the hard and uneven land of the island, climbing rock walls and jumping from ledge to ledge. While she could appreciate the island's beauty, the sight of grey rock and the occasional patch of grass was beginning to annoy her. Another fifteen minutes passed and still she saw no sign of where Luke or the stranger might be.

She sat on a rock and dabbed her face with a cloth. She pulled out a small loaf of portion bread and ate it while looking out over the terrain. While she ate she thought of Finn, wondering if he'd woken up yet. She wondered when she'd see him again and that when she did she'd hug him like she'd never hugged anyone in her life because he was family. She wondered if he thought of her as family too.

Before she knew it she reached down for another bite of bread and found that there were only crumbs left. She wiped her hands off, shouldered her bag, and stood on top of the rock.

When her eyes fell on the tree she didn't react immediately. It took her a few moments to recognize that it in fact was a tree and not a tree shaped jut of stone.

Not wasting any time she quickly climbed off the rock and started to carefully navigate her way through the small valley of white rock that separated her from the grassland where the tree stood. A small stone path wound its way through the grass up to an archway in the trunk of the tree.

A few minutes later she dropped down from a small cliff and landed in the grass. The tree loomed over her, its shadow stretching west over a hillside.

 _This is it_ , she thought. _This is where he lives._

She started up the narrow stone path, each step filling her with a mix of nervousness and excitement. When she reached archway she saw how dark it was inside. "Hello?" she called into the tree. She took her first step inside and immediately the sounds of the world seemed to fade. The birds stopped chirping and calling, the waves of the ocean seemed so far away. She stood in a narrow hallway no more than four feet across and six feet in height.

Her eyes began to adjust to the darkness inside and the interior came into view. She reached the end of the hallway and it opened up into a small circular room. Luke wasn't here, neither was the stranger she'd met yesterday. Instead she found a small shelf bearing eight books.

Rey looked around the room for some kind of door or entryway that led down into a tunnel system where surely Luke was hiding. When she couldn't find any such door she removed one of the books from the shelf. It was old and leatherbound. It looked more like a journal than a proper book. She opened it to the first page. Instead of words there was a drawing of a sword with a start for a hilt. The second page had words but none of them in a language which Rey understood. She set the book back and removed another. On the first page was the same symbol as the first book. On the second page were words and these she could read. THE JEDI PATH, it read. Excited, she flipped to the next page which detailed the Jedi Code. Her eyes widened and she set down her pack, sat down on the floor and began to read.

Two hours later her mind was filled with parts of Jedi history and wisdom, each part fighting for place in her mind to be remembered. She read of the Jedi's beginnings on the very island that she stood on. She read of ancient Jedi methods of training and ways of maintaining an appropriate temperament.

She removed another book the shelf and flipped it open to its title page. This one read: THE FORCE. Her heart rate quickened and she began to flip through the pages. Her eyes landed on the words: Novice Force Techniques. She opened to the page which bore those words and she began to read. The technique listed was a meditation technique used to focus one's connection to the force. She set the book open on the floor in front of her and crossed her legs. She closed her eyes, breathed deeply, and searched for that sensation she first felt on Starkiller Base.

Perhaps it was the excitement she felt in discovering the books that distracted her but it took her sometime to properly focus. But when she did her mind seemed to reach out and discover an entirely new place inside her.

Darkness filled her mind and she stood alone in the void. The voices of her friends seemed to call out to her but they were distant and their words incoherent. But in those voices was a pull, something tugging her further into the void. She latched onto it and it guided her through the emptiness. She felt a breeze graze her cheek. She could hear it too, this force was guiding her somewhere. As she went the wind began to pick up and soon it was much stronger than before. She felt her hair whipping against her face. The voices were gone, drowned out by the gusts of wind. A crack of thunder startled her and the winds were turning violent. It became hard to move forward, the force of the wind pushing her back, she was not welcome here. She pressed forward, overwhelming the strength of the wind. In response its strength only grew. Overhead thunder boomed and lightning slashed across the black but their light revealed nothing. Their strength was too strong now. Gale force winds held her back from advancing any further.

Then lightning struck only a few feet ahead of her. This one split the void open. A small jagged crack allowed a deep red to seep into the blackness of the void. Another bolt of lightning struck, this one closer than the first. Rey stepped back as the crack in the void widened and stretched toward her. More of the deep red poured into the black. Lightning struck all around in rapid succession like the firing of laser cannons. The void was breached, fissures forming and joining together to create rifts. The red filled the void, overwhelming the black. Rey screamed then. A bolt of lightning struck where she stood and the fissures and rifts were repaired in an instant leaving nothing but an endless, unforgiving black.

Luke sent Dorn to gather fish for the night's supper. He took the sidepath that cut through two hills and bended around a cliffside and then lead straight down to the coastline. About halfway down the path another less obvious dirt path branched off to the left and led up to the Tree. Dorn had only taken that path several times since arriving on the island and he never went on that path with the intention of reading the books that rest inside. In his early days he was constantly tempted to go up to the Tree and learn what the books had to teach but the Master strictly forbade him from such a task.

Eventually the temptation lessened and now he often forgets that the books and the Tree are even there.

He walked down the path, fishing pole and bucket in hand, humming to himself. He froze when he heard the scream. A wave of heat washed over him and he looked toward the Tree. "No," he whispered to himself. He dropped the pole and bucket and raced up the dirt path toward the tree. He reached the grassland but didn't search for her there. No, he knew she hadn't fallen into a ravine or broken a limb while climbing a rock face. He knew exactly where she was.

His eyes had no time to adjust when he ran through the archway but he didn't need them to when he saw her. His eyes widened and he started to back up. He tripped over her bag and fell to the floor but this didn't stop him from moving. He crawled backwards, never taking his eyes off of her. When he finally managed to tear his eyes from her, he bolted out of the Tree and down the path which he came, calling for his master the whole way back.


	2. Chapter 2

She was still unconscious when they returned to her in the Tree.

"She was like this when I found her. I was going down to the coastline when I heard her."

Luke circled around her. "Did you touch her?"

"No," Dorn said.

"How close did you get to her?"

The seriousness in Luke's voice made Dorn more nervous than the sound Rey's scream had. "As close as you are now."

"Go get some water."

Dorn hurried out of the tree leaving Luke to tend to her alone.

She was still breathing which was one good sign. Luke looked down at the open book on the floor and sighed. The technique she had attempted, despite it being listed under Novice Techniques, required a tremendous amount of effort when being channeled by a single person. Luke figured she'd skipped over the part that detailed the technique was meant for several channelers. The consequences were obvious.

Luke had read about the Force and its potential to warp the physical form. Its most notable occurrence affecting Sivin Lashant, a Jedi Grand Master from centuries ago. While attempting to undertake a Force technique known as Condemning, Lashant's body was twisted and misshapen. While exceptionally strong with the Force, Lashant could no longer walk or fight as he once had.

Contrary to this, a student of Lashant called Hin, trained hard under his master but was ultimately deemed to physically frail to advance past the rank of Padawan. This was until the young Hin attempted to prove himself by performing the same technique that crippled his master. But instead of deforming the Padawan, the Force strengthened him past the body's physical limit. He advanced to the rank of Knight soon after, easily overpowering all of his colleagues he was classed with.

Luke knew of these cases but none of them so extreme as Rey's.

He knelt beside her head and cupped her right cheek, turning her head toward him. "Rey," he said softly. Her eyelids fluttered but she didn't wake. "Rey." Her eyelids quivered again and this time they opened.

She looked up at Luke, tried to sit up.

"Don't move," Luke said. "You've put your body under so much stress, even sitting up might kill you."

With no protest she sunk back down to the floor, her eyes barely keeping open.

Luke heard Dorn as he ran up the path toward the Tree. He approached Luke from behind and handed him the bowl. He gently lifted Rey's head off the ground, put the bowl to her lips, and tilted it slightly. Though her eyes were closed, she drank the water slowly.

When she finished Luke handed the bowl back to Dorn and softly spoke to Rey. "Can you stand?" Rey nodded then slowly began to sit up. She grimaced as she did, every muscle in her body as sore as if she'd just spent three days out in the sun pulling parts from broken AT-ATs. Her head hurt too, as if someone had split it open with a club. She brought her knees in toward her chest and put her hands flat on the ground as she began to push herself up.

"Slowly now. Slowly. If you don't feel like you can, just sit right back down." Luke stood with her, not quite ready to catch her if she fell but rather to slow her fall. Thankfully, though, she stood up just fine.

When she was up straight, she opened her eyes and expected to see the disappointed faces of the two men who'd told her to leave. Instead her eyes met the wall above the arched entrance. Confused, she looked down and saw the Jedi Master and his assistant standing below her, both of them nearly less than half her height.

* * *

Outside it rained hard, lightning slashed across the night sky illuminating the dark and slick island surface.

"You should be dead," Dorn said.

Opposite him sat Rey clothed in a large cloth wrapped around her body. She tightly held a cup of hot water in her hands.

Luke came in through the entrance of the small hut carrying three bowls of food. "And yet, she isn't," he said. He handed Rey a bowl which she accepted and gave the other to Dorn before taking a seat for himself beside his assistant.

Rey said nothing, only looked into her bowl. She hadn't felt much of anything for the past few hours, much less an appetite.

"You're lucky," Luke said. "Most of the time that kind of stress turns Force user's minds to mush, twists their bones like rubber. Other times, rare times, it enhances them. Allows their minds to see things only few have seen before. Lets them fight for hours on end without a single sign of tiring." He looked up from his bowl and at Rey. "But to you. Well, I'm not exactly sure how to label what it's done to you."

She didn't feel bigger, everything else just looked smaller. The bowl in her hand, identical to the ones she held yesterday, now fit easily in one hand.

"I'm sorry," she said.

Luke shook his head. "I think you've already paid for what you did and then some."

They all sat in silence then, Rey staring at the bowl in her hand, Dorn glaring at Rey, and Luke eating his food as if nothing were wrong. "Why do you want my help?" Luke finally asked, but didn't look up from his food.

Rey perked up then. "So that you can help the Resistance defeat the First Order."

Luke slurped from his bowl, "Why?"

Rey didn't know what to say next. Had he not heard of the First Order? "Because it's only a matter of time before they control the entire Galaxy. Months, maybe even weeks."

Luke finished eating, wiped his mouth with a cloth, and set his bowl down beside him. "Do you know how big the Galaxy is?" he asked Rey.

Rey didn't know where he was going with this. "No."

"It's huge, massive. Some say it's infinite, that it goes on forever and ever. Do you have any idea how many people it would take to conquer, not to mention hold, something that is infinite?" They stared at each other. "It's impossible. Wouldn't be done. Couldn't be done. The First Order might control some of it, maybe even very important parts of it. But they'll never control all of it." He took his bowl and cloth and stood up. "You'd need a hundred First Orders to even begin. And even then, opposition always comes around." He left.

Dorn, much like Rey, hadn't even touched his food. "Leave," Dorn said and left the same way Luke had, leaving Rey alone.

That night Rey fashioned clothes out of the rags and cloth she found on the floor of her hut. When that was done she rested on the floor, using her bag to support her head. She removed the small dark grey pod from her bag and stared at it in the darkness. A small green light blinked in slow succession. The light comforted her because she knew just on the other end of that light was Finn, was the Resistance, was home. She clutched it in her hand and turned onto her side to sleep which never came to her.

* * *

After leaving Rey's hut, Luke went to the cliffside where he'd first met her the day before. He stood in the grass and watched the ocean send small waves crashing into the rocks below. He thought of Leia then, thought of the last time he'd seen her on Hosnian so many years ago.

 _This is Ben._

A small boy with dark hair peered around his mother.

 _It's okay. This is your uncle, Luke._

At the sight of him Luke could feel it, the force. The potential.

 _He's going to teach you to be like him one day._

His memories dissipated as his eyes fell on the _Falcon_. Instantly his mind was filled with other memories, old ones.

 _...hokey religions and ancient weapons…_

 _...stretch out with your feelings…_

He moved down the steps and found Chewbacca resting on the ground outside the ship. Luke suspected the Wookie had fallen asleep not long after eating. He entered the ship and found it just as he remembered it. He went down into the rear gunner's seat and put his hands on the controls. He spent a few minutes there thinking before he climbed back up to the main part of the ship. He made his way to the common area and sat down in the very spot where all those years ago Ben Kenobi taught him the basics of using a lightsaber and the force in conjunction. He could still hear the blasts from the seeker droid as it floated through the air, ready to fire its most unpredictable shots.

Then something moved near the corner of his eye and Luke looked up to find R2-D2 rolling from out of the shadows. "R2!" Luke exclaimed. "How are you, buddy?"

The droid responded with a series of beeps.

"I've missed you too," Luke said.

R2 wobbled on his legs, beeping and squealing at Luke.

"I can't. I won't. This Resistance-First Order thing," Luke shook his head, "it's just another phase. Going out there again would only make things worse." He leaned back and rested his head against the wall.

A light blue glow appeared in the middle of the room.

"General Kenobi," a voice said.

Luke perked up and saw a hologram of his sister at the center of the room. "Years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars…" Luke stared at the hologram, hearing his sister's voice but not listening to her words. "This is our most desperate hour. Help me Obi-wan Kenobi, you're my only hope."

The hologram faded and the room returned to its darkness.

Luke sat still, staring at the spot where the hologram had just faded from.

 _Your sister Leia sent me. She needs your help._

Morning came sooner than she expected. Though she had not slept, her mind had wandered deep into her thoughts. The sound of movement coming from just outside her dwelling roused her. She got up and squeezed through the hut door expecting to find Luke outside. What she found instead were short, grey skinned creatures with two skinny legs like a bird's. They were clothed in simple white robes. They looked up at Rey with wide eyes and looked as if they were ready to run away at a moments notice.

"Hi," Rey said with the friendliest smile she could muster but couldn't help but feel awkward about the situation. The creatures stared up at her for a moment longer before returning to their duties of cleaning the huts and dwellings.

Luke came up the hillside and greeted the creatures. They greeted him back with hands raised and bright faces. Some of them even hugged him. When they returned to work Luke and Rey stood on opposite ends of the stone platform, circled by huts.

"You want me to train you?" Luke asked.

An excitement welled up in Rey and she wanted to celebrate at the very possibility of being trained. Instead she kept her calm, "That's what I came all this way to do."

"I'll train you. But not for you, or for the Resistance, or to keep the Jedi alive. Meet me down by the coast in an hour. Bring my father's weapon with you."

Rey watched him turn and start back the way he came. "What changed?" she called after him.

"Nothing," he said, still walking away. "Everything's just the way it used to be."


	3. Chapter 3

He rode the elevator alone. The whirring sound of the gears that ushered the car upward halted and the elevator doors opened on the cavernous throne room, dark and red, the sound of the lift opening echoing several times before fading.

"They've escaped," the Supreme Leader said.

Kylo walked forward. "Not for long. We'll have them soon enough."

"Will we? Is that another promise? Like you promised to bring me the map to Skywalker? Like you promised to bring the girl called Rey to me? Your words are meaningless. You're skills in combat have proven worthless even against an inexperienced, unbalanced girl. What more do you have to offer?"

Kylo kneeled before the Supreme Leader. "The last of the Resistance is within reach. As soon as the-"

"Failure!" Snoke stood from his seat. "That's what you are. A failure." He stepped up to his apprentice. "Do you know what your grandfather did to those who failed him?"

Kylo's hands clenched tightly into fists.

"Perhaps I should adopt similar methods in dealing with those who fail me. Maybe then the Resistance would not be such a burden." Snoke took his seat on the throne. "I've been contemplating your position among our ranks. I believe I may have overestimated you, ushered you through training too hastily."

Kylo glared up at him.

"And so I've elected alleviate you of some of your duties. Bring me the Knights of Ren."

•-•-•

The First Order troopers circulating corridor A-7 halted at the sound of drumming footsteps. They moved to the sides of the hallway expecting Kylo Ren to come striding down the hall closely followed by a squadron of troopers. Instead what came was a group of black dressed figures marching down the corridor in a V formation. A trooper standing by the lifts at the end of the hallway called for one of the lifts, not wanting to find out what would happen if the Knights reached him and he hadn't done so.

•-•-•

Still kneeling, Kylo Ren heard the sound of the lift opening behind him, then the sonorous, rhythmic footfalls. There was a certain presence to those steps, a presence that made Kylo feel tense. Kylo stood and as the knights approached and halted just beside him.

"Master," the lead one nodded toward Kylo.

"Allya," Kylo said.

No one matched Kylo quite like Allya did. Out of all the other Knights she was the only that could challenge him in combat. The only one that rivaled his aura. Even physically she matched his height, presenting a most powerful and menacing presence. And behind that black and silver mask of hers were two eyes so devastatingly calm Kylo himself struggled to look her in the eye.

"Allya Ren," Snoke said.

Allya knelt before him. "Supreme Leader."

"It would seem your master is incapable of accomplishing anything worth note on beha-"

Kylo shot up from his position on the floor. "I killed Han Solo!"

"Do not interrupt me, you swine!" A gust of wind sent Kylo Ren onto his back. Snoke slowly advanced on him. "Han Solo was weak just like you are weak. I see the conflict in you. I sense it clouding your direction, breaking your resolve. You're weren't meant to lead, I should have never sent you to retrieve the map alone."

Kylo looked and saw all the Knights looking down on him, judging him. But not Allya, she remained looking forward.

Snoke turned to the kneeling Allya and said, "Allya Ren, you've shown bravery and finesse in even the most dire circumstances. You've carried out my orders without fail and have brought distinction to your name. I hereby name you Master of the Knights of Ren. As your first task as master, you will bring me the map to Skywalker and crush any Resistance you find along the way."

"It will be done, Supreme Leader," Allya said. She stood up and left with the other Knights except Kylo.

"As for you, young Solo," Snoke took his seat again. "You will follow any and every order Allya gives you, is that clear?"

Kylo stared at Snoke, glanced at the red uniformed Praetorian Guard standing at the far end of the room.

"Is that clear?" Snoke asked again, his teeth barred, voice slower and more commanding.

Kylo Ren swallowed. "Understood."

"Now go, bring me the map to Skywalker and do not return to me empty handed. Fail me again and I won't be quite so forgiving."

* * *

"Again." Luke stood atop a rock at the edge of a small cliff. Above him sea-birds flew in small groups, circling the only living quarters on the island. Down below him Rey gripped the blue lightsaber in both hands. Sweat beaded at her crown, dripped down the sides of her face and into her eyes. She stepped back away from the rocks, raised the lightsaber to her side and swung. She came from the right, the left, arced from the top and thrusted from her waist up. "Again." Rey sighed and again she did the motions, swiping, arcing, and thrusting the blade at the rocks, but never touching them. "Again."

She turned and looked up at the Jedi Master. "Can't we move onto something else?"

"Again," Luke said.

"I'm sure there are other things I could practice."

"Before you can learn anything else you must first learn to properly wield a lightsaber."

"I beat Ben Solo in-"

"Ben Solo is untaught, arrogant, and reckless. The most experience he has is sparring against other students. To call him anything more than an amateur would be going too far. Before we can proceed you must first learn how to use that weapon. It's not just swinging to kill, it's discipline, it's restraint, it's being in control." They both shared a look for a moment neither of them speaking. "Again."

With the sun turning the sky into a peach and orange colored painting, Rey held the lightsaber high above her head, her vision beginning to shake. Her arms were sore, her legs on the verge of giving out. But still she stood, sweat making her face glisten with what sunlight remained. Her heart thumped hard, drumming in her chest. Then she swung downard, stopped just before making contact with the rocks and came from the left, from the right, this flurry of motions and the hum of the blade arcing through the air. On the final part of the sweep the weapon flew from her hands as she fell to her hands and knees. She breathed heavy, saw her own hands shaking against the stone footing. With what effort she could muster, she turned her head to Luke, saw him standing there still, not having moved an inch in the hours since she began.

"Again."

"I…" her breaths deep, "I can't."

"You can't or you won't?"

She didn't speak again, only breathed.

"Get up."

She took a moment longer on the ground, her body clinging to the only semblance of rest it's felt in hours. Her arms trembled as she pushed herself up, twice nearly giving out and letting her fall flat onto the ground. But she got up and lifted her gaze to the Jedi Master above her.

"Get it," Luke said. Rey took one step toward where the lightsaber rested on the ground when her body froze, every muscle in her body tensed as it wanted to move but couldn't. "No," Luke said, "Get it." She felt her body loosen and then she raised her arm with her hand open. The lightsaber began to twitch and shake. It slid about an inch toward Rey but no more. She heard the sound of distant wind. She clenched her teeth, shut her eyes, and focused. The muscles in her fingers tensed and flexed, her whole arm started to tremble. She felt annoyed, no, felt angry that it wasn't coming to her. The rushing wind grew louder and louder, more violent as it filled her ears and her mind. But in the midst of that whirlwind was a voice, faint but clear. "Stop…" the voice said. But she didn't want to, she could do it she knew she could. She'd done it before. And she had to because she had to prove to him that she was ready.

The wind drowned the voice out completely and then a vacuum ripped the wind out from her mind and her eyes shot open. In front of her was an open hand and behind it Luke's eyes staring into her own. Her body was frozen again. He stared into her eyes a moment longer before, his brow furrowed and teeth clenched tight. He slowly lowered his hand and Rey felt in control of her body again.

He stepped down from the rock. "We'll continue tomorrow," Luke said. The lightsaber lifted up off the ground and into his grip. "Get some rest." He turned and walked away from her.

Rey looked down where the lightsaber had been and saw cracks in the earth where there had been none before.


	4. Chapter 4

She dreamt of nothing, her sleep felt as if only an instant had passed but when she opened her eyes warm sunlight came in through the cracks in the ceiling. Sea-birds chirped and cawed as the crashing waves pulled her back to toward sleep.

She winced as she pushed herself up onto her elbows, her arms from wrist to shoulder ached. Her upper chest stung at the smallest movement, even breathing hurt. She opened her hands and found the beginnings of calluses on her palms.

When she stepped outside she raised her arm to shield her eyes from the sun. And for a moment she thought she was back on Jakku again, that the sound of crashing waves was the sound of a damaged engine, that the calluses had always been there, that she had a dream of becoming a Jedi.

But then her eyes adjusted to the sunlight and the world came into focus and those thoughts faded with the sensation of sleep that she'd just overcome.

•-•-•

She found Luke sitting just outside the mouth of a cave that opened onto a promontory that overlooked the ocean. He sat alone atop a rock. Rey approached him slowly from behind. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by him. "Han's dead," Luke said, emotionless. It sounded like he was stating a fact rather than a revelation.

Rey looked down at the dry cracked earth, "I was there." She could still hear the terrible drone of Kylo Ren's lightsaber as it pierced his father's body.

"When I saw the ship I figured he'd loaned it to you. But then I thought: Han? Loaning the _Falcon_?" Luke laughed a small weak laugh, forced almost. "So I went searching for him and at first I thought I'd found him. Somewhere out there. But there was this anger, this fear that I…" he stopped, shook his head and sniffled. "This fear that I knew Han was never capable of. Then I realized it wasn't Han at all. It was Ben." He opened his eyes and she saw the red in them.

Rey put a hand on his shoulder. "What happened?" she said after a moment. "How did he…" her voice trailed off as she thought. "Turn to the Dark side?"

Luke shook his head again. "He didn't turn to it. No one ever turns to the Dark. You fall. Unwilling." He looked down at his hands in his lap. "He fell because I taught it to him. The Jedi teach you to ignore it. Only tell you that it leads to suffering. But it's that attitude that got us here in the first place so I figured rather than hide it away, I would teach it. I would teach a balance, just as the force should be." He paused again, silently stared out over the water. "The Jedi teach you to be patient, to suppress all of your feelings, to suffer well. That you must not feel hate, that you must not feel love. How tempting. But the Dark...it offers so much more. The power of it."

 _Your hate has made you powerful._

"The potential."

 _Take your father's place at my side._

"It feels good." Tears welled at the bottom of his eyes. "So you figure that you can hold onto yourself, that you won't fall like the others did. And I'm sure that's what they thought too. But by the time you get your first taste, you realize you don't want to. Because everytime you want just a little more. But more is never enough." He shrugged. "The Light is hopeful and bright but it's a harsh bright. It doesn't offer you anything. It doesn't care whether you obey its call or not. But the Dark seeks you out and promises something. It whispers to you." He looked up at the orange smear of the sunrise. He shrugged, "Maybe he was too young. Maybe it's just who he was. But I let him go."

Rey sat beside him on the rock. "I won't fail you."

"Yes, you will. Many times."

Rey followed his gaze out of the water and watched as the sun rose over the horizon.

"And that is how you'll learn."

* * *

Kylo Ren found Hux on the bridge. Beyond the glass window the black of space stretched endlessly. "Reports?" Kylo said as he approached Hux from behind.

"If I remember correctly, I don't believe I answer to you anymore," Hux said and smirked. He turned to Kylo and saw the indifference in his eyes. Not the indifference for Hux's remark but the indifference for Hux's life.

Hux swallowed and said, "None. But we expect one soon."

The intercom in the bridge sounded and everyone silenced, waited. For a second Kylo thought no one would speak, then the voice came. "Kylo Ren," Allya said over the speaker, "Your presence."

The bridge crew all turned to Kylo but Kylo only looked at Hux with scorn.

Hux motioned to the door and after a few more moments of lingering eyes, Kylo left.

When he arrived at her quarters she wasn't wearing her helmet. She sat facing away from him, her silver hair falling down her back as she stared out a window into space.

'Allya,' he almost said but held his tongue and painfully corrected himself. "Master."

"I need you to understand that my assuming of this position has no effect on my respect for you." Kylo had forgotten the mixture of raspy and rich that was her bare voice. Despite this he could always hear the slight melody that strung her words together. "However that does not mean I am going to squander my opportunity just to spare your feelings. You will fall under my every command, but do not feel that my reasoning is closed to discussion. As my comrade I urge you to bring up any concerns or suggestions you may have. But as my underling, know that my word is final, and when stated so, must be followed without further questioning. Is that understood?"

A brief silence fell before Kylo cleared his throat and said, "Understood."

"Now that we're both on the same page, I want to start with Rey. Seeing that the Supreme Leader saw it unnecessary for me to accompany you to Jakku, Takodana, or Starkiller, I am unaware of what she or any of her companions are capable of. Which makes you of utmost importance. Until such time that General Hux's plan proves successful, we will act as though it has already failed. Every moment that passes the odds tip further in favor of the Resistance. So rather than sitting and waiting to see if the General's plans come to fruition, we will start with our own course of action now."

Allya gathered the length of her hair in one hand and began to tie it up with the other. When that was done she gathered her helmet in both hands and placed it on her head. She got up from where she was sitting and passed Kylo, saying, "Prepare a squadron for deployment. We leave for Jakku in an hour."


	5. Chapter 5

Fourteen days had passed since her training had begun and each day that went by was harder than the one before it.

At first it was the physical work that wore her out but as she got deeper into her Force training, she discovered an entirely new form of exhaustion. Nights used to consist of restless tossing and thoughts of the Resistance. Now she would pass out mere seconds after lying down in her cot. Her mind rarely had the energy to dream anymore but when it did it dreamed of faceless figures and incoherent words.

In the earlier days she'd wake feeling less rested than she did the night before. She struggled to get out of bed every morning, every muscle in her body begging her to not move, to quit. But now she got out of her cot instantly and went outside her hut to stretch.

She'd also become accustomed to her new size. Her first time seeing Chewie since arriving on the island was odd, though. Normally she was used to being two feet shorter than him rather than two feet taller. She asked him if he'd like to stay up in one of the huts rather than sleeping on the ship but the Wookie said that he preferred the familiarity of the ship.

However, due to her larger hands, she couldn't practice with the lightsaber. Instead she practiced with a large stick that Dorn had begrudgingly carved at Luke's request.

Rey could tell Dorn didn't like her. He rarely spoke to her and when he did it wasn't of his own volition. While she practiced outside, Luke standing on a platform above her, she would sometimes spot him off sitting on a ledge in the distance, watching her.

Blindfolded, Rey stood at the ready with the wooden stick in hand. The moving tide made the sound of seeker droid difficult to hear. Carefully she stepped, circling where she thought the droid was. In fact, the droid floated around behind her. Standing about twenty feet away Luke laughed at her. "Stop using your ears, they aren't always reliable. What if you're fighting in the rain and all around the sound of the storm drowns out the sounds you need to be paying attention to?"

She tried pushing the sounds out of her mind, tried to sense the droid with the Force. Her left foot stepped onto an uneven rock as she circled the area and she fell into the shallow water as it moved up the shore. Annoyed she removed the blindfold from her face. "It's too hard. I can't hear anything, can't see anything." She dropped the stick in the sand and brushed her hands off.

"I'm guessing you didn't read about Grand Master Polt while you were nosing around in the Sacred Texts."

"Grand Master Polt never had to stand blindfolded stepping around in wet sand all day," Rey said as she got up.

"Grand Master Polt was deaf and blind. He's listed as one of the most skilled combatants to ever wield a lightsaber. You don't need your other senses to fight you just think you do and that's why you fail."

At night she practiced basic Force techniques like lifting and pushing. Luke knew the Force was strong with her, immensely strong, but it was also unfocused. And unfocused the Force is useless. Rey began with lifting rocks and stones, their size gradually increasing as she learned. Then she would help the natives around the island by lifting their wagons and carrying them wherever they needed.

"When will we be able to fix this?" Rey asked over supper one evening, referencing her size.

Luke mulled over the question while he ate. "Physical changes like what's happened to you only happen when those extraordinarily strong with the Force briefly push past the limit their body can handle. I have no doubt that pushing yourself past that limit again would cause some sort of change but, there's no guarantee what you want to happen will happen."

Sitting on the floor, Rey finished her supper and set her bowl beside herself. "You've seen this before?"

Luke shook his head. "I've only read about it. It's not what I would call a common occurrence." He raised a spoonful of food to his mouth but stopped to speak. "Actually, that's not true. I've seen it before it just wasn't as extreme." He slurped as he ate.

"Where?" Rey asked.

Luke raised a finger and finished swallowing his food before speaking again. "In my father. When I took off his helmet you could see it. He couldn't have been older than forty five years old when he died but he looked older than I do now and I'm older than he ever was by at least ten years." Luke raised his fingers to his eyes and drew circles with them. "His eyes too were a reddish yellow." He clapped his hands together and shrugged, "But that's what the Dark side does to you. The body was never meant to endure that kind of power for that long."

This was the first time Luke had ever mentioned his father to her. "What was he like?" she asked.

Luke set his bowl on the space of bench next to him, "My father?"

"Yes."

"Evil," Luke chuckled. "I didn't know him before he fell and only very briefly afterward so I don't have much to tell." He ate from his bowl again, "What about your father?"

Rey looked down at the ground between her feet, "I didn't know my father."

"Mother?"

Rey shook her head. "They're both just faceless figures in my head. I don't even remember their voices." Between her feet was a small rock that slowly began to lift into the air as she concentrated on it. "I like to think that they're out there somewhere. That they think of me." She laughed nervously to herself and her eyes began to tear. "It's been so long I sometimes wonder if they even remember where they left me." Her lips pursed and Luke could tell she was holding back, that she didn't want to cry in front of him.

Luke stood up, taking his bowl with him and walked over to where Rey sat on the ground. He put a hand on her shoulder. "They're out there," he said and left.

After he was gone she rested in her cot, staring through the small circular hole that acted as a window. The moon sat perfectly in the center, it's white light pouring in through it.

 _Beep._

Rey turned her head to the door, wondering if some droid had wandered in.

 _Beep._

She sat up and looked around the room.

 _Beep._

She got up out of her cot and grabbed her bag at the other end of the room.

 _Beep._

Rummaging through it she found the source. She pulled the small pod that the Resistance had given her so that they could find her and vise versa.

 _Beep._

She flipped it over in her hand and felt her face go hot when she saw that the blinking green light at the end of the tracker had turned bright red.


	6. Chapter 6

"WARNING: THIS IS NOT A DRILL. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY." The voice pierced Poe's ears as it bounced and reverberated off the corridor walls. He pounded down the hallway with BB-8 close behind. Hot air met his face as he stepped outside, the entire base was on full alert. He looked up and saw the _Raddus_ already preparing for its jump to hyperspace. And behind it a fleet of Star Destroyers exiting hyperspace.

Poe turned and knelt down to BB-8. "Go get the ship ready, we're going to need to tear out of here. I won't be more than a minute, just need to grab a few things." He stood up and ran towards the closest hangar from which hundreds of resistance pilots and engineers poured out. He looked over his shoulder and yelled, "Go!" BB-8 swiveled around and rolled the opposite direction.

Inside the base corridors and hallways were flooded with resistance fighters trying to escape. Poe pushed and squeezed his way through the masses and eventually reached a comms room. He put the headphones to his ear and pushed the button to speak. "Raddus, this is D'qar HQ, do you copy?"

"Copy HQ, the hell are you still doing down there? Evacuation orders have already been given."

"Have all medical bays been evac'd?"

The briefest moment of silence and already Poe considered dropping the headphones and running to check for himself.

"Affirmative, HQ, all medical bays cleared. Now you need to-"

Poe dropped the headphones and sprinted out of the comms room and further down the hallway.

From his locker he grabbed his Gile-44 blaster pistol and the brown pilot's jacket he'd given to Finn. As he pulled the jacket from the locker, a small grey pod tumbled out of the right front pocket and landed on the floor, the light on it changing from green to red. With those clutched in hand he tore down the hallway back to the hangar. By now most of the pilots and fighters had cleared out, a few stragglers still just getting their X-Wings off the ground. Then at one of the hangar computer terminals Poe saw a young woman tapping away at the keyboard.

"Hey, c'mon lady, we gotta go."

She turned to him and he saw she was crying. "My squad th-they just left without me. Just left. I don't have a ship to leave with."

"Damn it," Poe muttered under his breath. He pulled the comms unit from his pocket and but it to his mouth. "BB-8 we need a tandem fighter, you understand? Not a standard. Find one and get it fired up now, we're leaving as soon as I get there." He pocketed the comms unit and said, "C'mon." He ran for the end of the hangar, the woman close behind.

BB-8 radioed back when the droid found a tandem X-Wing and Poe tore down the runway to one of the few fighters left on the tarmac. Above them six First Order trooper transports sped down to the surface of the planet. In seconds they'd be scouting the hangars and hallways for any resistance fighter left behind that they could torture or beat information out of. And Poe didn't plan on being one, not again.

"Get in," Poe said and the woman spent no time doing otherwise. BB-8 was already loaded into position. Poe started take off even before the cockpit sealed. She strapped in just before the massive amount of g-force pinned her to the seat. The X-Wing sped away from the surface aiming straight for the _Raddus_ above. She could hear the roar of the engine building and building as the craft flew faster, jetting towards the atmosphere. They blasted past the transports heading for the surface. The light of the planet faded away as the black of space took over.

When they reached the entrance of the hangar bay, the hangar door was nearly shut. The ship docked and Poe wiped the sweat from his forehead. He reached over the back of his seat. "Poe," he said.

The woman shook his hand and smiled despite the redness in her face. "Suna," she said.

The ship jolted, the pilots in the hangar grabbing on to the bottoms of their respective X-Wings to keep their balance, some of them falling over.

"Feels like we just made the jump," Poe said as he hopped from the cockpit and offered a hand to Suna. "Hopefully it wasn't too late."

Suna took his hand and climbed down the side of the ship onto the hangar floor. "Where are we headed?" she asked.

"An auxiliary Resistance base, for the time being at least. They didn't brief you on this?"

"Evac started while we were in briefing."

Poe nodded. "You should report to your commanding officer about your squad leaving you behind. That kinda behavior's grounds for a court martial."

"I'll do just that. Thank you again."

"Don't mention it," Poe said. He nodded to her and left the hangar.

The infirmary on the _Raddus_ was exceeding its capacity, never designed to shelter and treat this many casualties. A portion of the living quarters had been sectioned off as an extension of the infirmary. And that's where Poe found Finn still comatose. "He doing alright?" Poe asked the attendant nurse. He looked down past the glass encasing that covered Finn, watched his chest rise and fall.

The nurse smiled and stood beside Poe. "He's doing well. Stable, no unusual activity. He talks sometimes."

"What does he say?"

"Nonsense mostly, bits and pieces of sentences but nothing coherent. He calls for people sometimes."

"What names?"

The nurse grabbed a datapad from the side table and started tapping away at it. "Sometimes yours, Commander." She moved past Poe as she went to check on others in the infirmary. "Other times he calls for Rey."


	7. Chapter 7

Unkar Plutt was tired of arguing.

"One half portion. Take it now or I take the scrap and you get nothing," he said.

The small alien creature gruntled something to itself and took the half portion from the counter and left.

Unkar pulled the scraps behind his counter and called, "Next!"

A smaller, leathery skinned looking species waddled forward but was pushed out of the way by a flash of white.

Unkar raised his fist. "Hey! You can't just shove your wa-"

The clang of the lightsaber hilt hitting the steel counter cut him off.

"The girl called Rey, where did she live?" Allya said.

Spit dribbled from Unkar's lip as he tried to speak. "A-A-A w-walker, just about a mile south," he pointed in the direction.

"Her family?" Allya asked.

Unkar shook his head. "N-None, she lived alone."

"Friends?"

"None of them eithe- wait. No, she had one. I-I think. Hezz something."

"Where?"

"On the outskirts of the outpost."

The hilt of the lightsaber scraped along the steel counter as Allya left, her troopers following instep.

Accompanied by a small squadron of troopers, Allya and Kylo arrived on Jakku just after daybreak. The planet's sun had only been up on this side of the planet for half an hour but already the sands were beginning to bake.

Their Lambda class shuttle touched down just outside Niima Outpost where several denizens just beginning to start their day hurried back into the safety of their homes at the sight of the shuttle. While the troopers kept their standard armor on, the two knights exchanged their usual black robes for white ones made of lighter material.

After speaking with a few of the locals and threatening several of them, Allya and Kylo found the hovel in which Hezz lived. "Wait here," Allya ordered the troopers. She and Kylo knocked on the small rusted door of the hovel and waited.

"Do you feel that?" Kylo asked.

Allya didn't turn to him. "Feel what?"

Kylo didn't say anything after that. He knew the Force when it was near. At first he suspected it to be Allya but her connection with the Force wasn't this strong, didn't give off this kind of energy. This one felt unfocused, agitated.

Coming from inside they could hear glass breaking followed by what they guessed were curses. The door squeaked open on a wild haired Cerean, their face sunken in and their eyes dark.

"Are you Hezz?" Allya asked.

"Yes, what do you want?" the Cerean asked.

"We'd like to ask you about a scavenger named Rey."

"Rey," Hezz repeated. "Fine." He left the door open as he walked back into the darkness of his home.

Both Rens followed him inside where they discovered his home was not nearly as dark as they'd suspected, it was just that the outside was incredibly bright from the sun reflecting off of the white sand.

"Shut up shut up," Hezz mumbled to himself.

Kylo and Allya exchanged a look. "Come again?" Allya said to the Cerean.

"Nothing nothing, just...just nothing."

"Did Rey ever tell you where she was planning on going."

"Going? No. She wasn't much of a talker." Hezz moved nervously around his home, twitching as he walked over to a haphazard stack of books.

"What about her family?"

"Sh-sh-she didn't have any family. No they left her-SHUT UP! BE QUIET!"

Kylo flinched at the sudden outburst and put his hand on the hilt of his lightsaber.

Allya put a hand on his arm signalling him that his concern was unnecessary. "Hezz is there someone else here?"

The Cerean didn't respond, only went about moving books and scraps of metal around seemingly for no reason at all.

"Who do you keep telling to be quiet?" Kylo asked.

"No one. No one. Just in my head," Hezz said. He approached a countertop littered with scraps of metal.

"What do you mean in your head? What are they saying?" Allya watched him move about his own home with such stress that it made her wonder if it was just the heat making him crack.

"They tell me-STOP IT!" The scrap metal was thrown from the counter and scattered around the room. Then the room was bathed in red light as Kylo's lightsaber ignited, its steady drone filling the quiet. Kylo held the weapon leveled, ready to cut Hezz down with one swing. Allya grabbed Kylo by the arm and squeezed.

"Thank you for your time," Allya said and motioned for Kylo to follow her out.

Kylo stayed inside a few seconds longer, watching Hezz as he fell into a corner and began speaking to himself.

"He's sensitive," Kylo said as they both walked back to the shuttle. "I could feel it."

"Was he strong?" Allya asked.

Kylo shook his head. "Not particularly. But strong enough for me to pick up on it." He looked around the outpost, watching its inhabitants move slowly from building to building. "It's different here."

Allya followed his gaze toward the outpost. "You did kill most of them last time you were here."

"No, I mean the energy. When I came for the map it was still, quiet. There was nothing. Now there's something strong. I thought it might just be one being like Rey was. But walking through the outpost I realized they all have it. Or almost all of them."

"Everyone here is in touch with the Force?" Allya said incredulously.

"Almost all of them."

 _There has been an awakening._

 _Have you felt it?_

Kylo did feel it. Then and now he did. He thought now that he hadn't fully grasped the weight of Snoke's words then. He'd figured that the Supreme Leader referred only to Rey. But now he suspected that the awakening Snoke spoke about referred to something much _much_ bigger.


	8. Chapter 8

"You can't go, we haven't finished," Luke watched Rey from the door of her hut as she gathered her belongings and stuffed them into her bag.

"I don't have a choice." Off to the side the tracker still blinked red. "They need me back."

"And what about your training? There's no such thing as half a Jedi. You came here so desperate, begged me to train you. And now you're going to leave without a second thought?"

Rey finished packing her things and slung the bag over her shoulder. "You can come with me."

"No, absolutely not."

"Why not? If you come not only will we have you there to fight with us but you'll also be able to keep teaching me."

"I said, no." He turned and walked out of the hut.

"Wait," Rey said and ran after him. She put a hand on his shoulder and pulled on him to face her. "Why not?"

Luke looked to her again and held her gaze. "Go to your friends."

"You said you would. Not for me or the Resistance, but you agreed to train me."

"I never agreed to join your war."

"You did it before."

"And look where it got us. The Empire had been gone barely ten years when the first pieces of the First Order came to be. Even if you could beat them, something else would just come back and take its place. It's just war, Rey. It's all the same."

"Okay, it's all the same. But someone has to win. Do you want it to be them?" Rey could see the tension in Luke's face. "They aren't going away. They aren't. We have to fight back or the First Order will roll over the Galaxy and everyone in it will suffer. What about for Leia?" Rey said. The decisiveness in Luke's expression seemed to melt away. "If not for me then for her. She needs you. She wouldn't have asked if there was any other way." They stared at each other saying nothing for a while. "Just until I'm done. Come with me until my training is finished. Then you can come back here and I'll never bother you again. I'll destroy the map and I won't tell anyone. It'll be just like you wanted it."

The guilt hung heavy in his chest, a dull pain that lingered inside him. It made its home there the night Ben left, the night the temple burned. Then over the years it rooted itself deep into his mind and now traces of it accompanied every thought he had. At night those memories, despite how good they were when he lived them, crept there way into his mind. A memory of Ben and himself waiting at the shuttle port on Hosnian, Leia smiling at the both of them as they walked toward their boarding platform. She waved at them, Luke waving back but Ben dropping his things and running over to give his mother one final hug before his long trip.

That was the last he saw of her.

On the night the temple burned he thought of her while the fires raged. He fell to his knees and watched the flames rise into the night sky, the stone of the building cracking as the heat built. When he couldn't bare to watch anymore he got up and went to the landing platform. Two X-Wings remained, the other six taken by Ben and the other fallen students. Luke prepared his X-Wing for take off but not before giving R2 a partial piece of the map that led to Ahch-To.

He looked up at Rey, saw the desperation in her eyes. "No." He turned away from her and left her without another word.

She went back to the _Falcon_ trying to convince herself that she didn't need him. She could teach herself from now on. But there was a small voice at the back of her head that said she needed him, that she couldn't teach herself, and that her decision here would be the downfall of the Resistance.

She tried to push this voice away as she got into the cockpit of the ship. She couldn't fit in the pilot's seat now so instead she sat down in the space behind the two seats and let Chewbacca handle everything up front.

"Make sure to prime the hyperdrive now," Rey told the Wookie, "We need to make the jump just as soon as it's safe to."

Chewie responded with an affirmative grunt.

As the ship lifted off the surface and into the sky, Rey wondered if Luke was outside watching the ship leave, regretting not going with her. But it wasn't Luke who stood out on those rocks. It was Dorn. He stood atop a cliff that overlooked the sea below and watched the _Falcon_ sail up toward the atmosphere. He stood there until the freighter was nothing but a speck against the blue sky. And then it was gone.

The ship blasted forward, the space around the ship turning from a still black to a tunnel of blue streaks that flashed past them. "How long will it take us to get there?" Rey asked. Beside her R2 beeped that it would only take them a few minutes to cross the distance back to D'qar. Rey glanced down at the tracker unit clutched tightly in her hand. Between the gaps in her fingers she could see the red light blinking and knew that these few minutes were going to be the longest minutes of her life.

Rey paced the corridor that connected the cockpit to the engine room. Thoughts about Finn, the Resistance, and Luke flashed through her mind. She was frustrated that she couldn't focus on one but more frustrated that they weren't at D'qar yet.

From the cockpit Chewie said that they'd be arriving in about thirty seconds and that Rey should find somewhere to brace herself for the exit.

She went back to the cockpit and sat behind Chewie, using both hands to grasp on to the empty co-pilot's seat.

The ship jolted and in an instant the warping blue lights that surrounded the ship were replaced by black. Relief settled in Rey's mind when she saw the familiar planet. But that relief vanished and was replaced by a deep sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach when her eyes fell on the ship.

"Chewie, get us back into the jump," she said, frantically tapping the Wookiee on the shoulder. "Chewie, we can't wait!"

Ahead of them three massive Star Destroyers lingered above D'qar's atmosphere.

Rey watched as the dorsal cannons on the Destroyer's slowly began to turn toward her.

"Chewie, we need to go now!" Rey screamed.

Chewie grunted and howled as he prepared the ship for the jump as fast as he could.

The muzzle of the cannon began to glow a deep red.

The _Falcon_ started to pull forward, the whir of the hyperdrive growing louder every second. The view around them, the ships, the stars, the planet, all seemed to melt as the ship began to make the jump. The entire ship blasted forward and in that same instant was rocked to the side. The lights in the ship went dark and were replaced by flashing red ones. Rey and R2 slammed up against the cockpit walls. Chewie, had he not been strapped to the pilot's seat, would have been thrown from it and into the walls too.

Rey and Chewie lost consciousness on impact as the _Falcon_ hurdled through hyperspace unpiloted.


	9. Chapter 9

She woke but didn't move. Her fingers closed and grasped a handful of sand.

 _Jakku_ , she thought, _home. I must've passed out in the heat._

Her eyes flickered open as she slowly raised her head from the sand and found that the sands were red and not white. Though her vision was blurry, she could see a statue stood over. Her breath caught in her throat when she remembered the Star Destroyers. She remembered the panic she felt as the cannons turned and took aim.

She sat up suddenly then and looked around for the _Falcon._ She was surrounded by nothing. Red sand stretched miles in every direction.

"Creature."

Rey flinched at the sound of the voice and crawled backward on her hands.

When she looked she saw that the statue wasn't a statue at all, but a person.

"Can you walk?" the person asked.

Rey wasn't even sure she could speak but she found her voice as questions poured into her mind. "Where's my ship?"

The stranger pointed off to the left.

Rey followed the direction and saw the small boxlike escape pod that detached from the Falcon. It stuck out of the sand with its door open. She couldn't remember crawling from it."That's not my ship. That's a pod. My ship it's a big freighter. Where is it?"

"I don't know," their voice was calm, unconcerned.

Rey stared up at them trying to make out their face but their hood showed nothing. She slowly got to her feet.

"Come," the person said and began walking away from her.

The desert was not as endless as Rey had expected. Resting in the shadow of a range of large mountains was what looked like a the remains of a city long destroyed. But as she drew closer she realized it wasn't a city at all. Massive stone statues of hooded figures lined the path into the valley. Beyond the statues were even larger stone buildings the same color as the sand they were built upon.

"What are these buildings?" Rey asked as she and the stranger passed them.

"Tombs," the stranger replied. The tombs and statues were impressive, grand and beautiful despite the cracks in their surfaces. But those towering structures paled in comparison to the pyramid at the end of the valley. The colossal building cast a shadow over the entire valley, its apex at perfect alignment with the planet's sun.

"And that?" Rey asked.

"The Great Temple."

Beside the temple a smaller pyramid sat in the shadow of the larger structure. It's peak was gone, nearly the entire right side crumbled in on itself. "That was the academy where younglings were taught in the ways of the Force," the stranger said.

"The Force?" Rey repeated. "Are you a Jedi?" She was excited, maybe she really wouldn't need Luke after all.

"No."

"Well," Rey's eyes turned back to the temple ahead of them. "What is this place?"

"They called it: The Valley of the Sleeping Kings. Come, I will introduce you to one of them."

He stepped off of the main path and onto a faded, less obvious one. At the end of the path a tomb stood flanked by two statues of hooded figures looking down upon those who would walk their path. The entrance to the tomb, a small square portal at the bottom of the structure. Beyond the vacant spot in the wall of stone was dark. Her eyes began to adjust as she stepped inside. A majority of the room was empty save for two obelisks that stood on the sides of the room. But at the front of the room was what held Rey's attention and surely was the centerpiece of the tomb. A large staircase raised twenty feet up to a stone platform and on that platform was a statue. The figure of a man sitting upon large throne. Though the figure had the shape of a man, it lacked many features of one. Where the mouth should have been was instead a triangular vent and instead of the smooth structure of a face was precise and straight edges. It looked vaguely like a helmet or the face of a droid. Despite its odd appearance, to Rey it seemed familiar though she couldn't say exactly why.

"One of the kings was a droid?" Rey asked.

"No, he was a man. His body was so badly damaged that he needed that armor to survive."

"What was his name?"

"Vader."

Rey stood still then slowly turned to the stranger. "Darth Vader?"

The man nodded. "His body isn't actually here. It was lost after the Empire fell."

She stared at the him, suddenly feeling an anger well up inside her. "You're a Sith." Rey reached for the lightsaber that hung on her hip, but it wasn't there, forgotten on Ahch-To.

The stranger calmly shook their head and said, "I'm not a Sith."

"Then who are you?" She slowly started to circle him.

"I'm a caretaker. My name is Aldir."

"Caretaker of what?"

Aldir raised both of his arms, "Of these buildings, of these statues. This valley is my home."

"What planet is this?"

"We're on Moraband."

"Moraband," Rey repeated the name to herself. "Birthplace of the Sith."

"You have heard of this place?"

"I read about it."

Aldir rested against the base of the stature behind him. "Are you a Jedi?"

"Not exactly."

"Well you have met one, at least? Right?" Aldir said. Rey heistated. "The way you reached for something on your hip. A lightsaber?"

"I'm not trained. I didn't get to finish before I left." She looked up and around at the tomb. "Funny I landed here. I was about to learn about the Dark Side."

"The Dark Side?" Aldir's eyebrows raised. "A Jedi wanted to teach you the ways of the Dark?"

"He said he wanted to teach a balance, as the Force should be. But now all I know is the Light. And even then I only understand the basics."

They were both silent for a moment while Aldir watched Rey seem to finally appreciate the architecture of the tomb.

"I could teach you."

Rey's attention focused back on Aldir. "You said you weren't a Jedi?"

Aldir chuckled. "No, my dear, I'm not a Jedi. My knowledge of the Light is limited at best. But my understanding of the Dark? That I'm sure I could teach to you."

"So you _are_ a Sith."

"Does understanding the ways of a thief make me a thief?" He stared at her. "Does understanding the strategies of a general make me a commander of war?" He pushed away from the statue and paced back and forth, his hands clasped behind his back. "Understanding the Dark ways of the Force doesn't make you a Sith. It's what you do, what you believe you should do that makes you anything. So I'm not a Sith. I couldn't even be one if I wanted to. I've been surrounded by some of the strongest Force users in the Galaxy and yet it does not call to me. But I did not need it to attune with me for me to read books on it, to watch masters teach their students, and generals instruct their lieutenants."

This felt wrong. Even just being on this planet, in this tomb felt wrong. The planet itself felt alive, it's black callused heart pumping whispering voices from the past up through the sand. It knew where Rey walked, what she thought, what she was capable of and it did not protest her presence. It wasn't the feeling that she didn't belong here that worried her, it was the feeling that she did.

Reluctant she said, "Okay. I'm willing to be taught by you."

Aldir smiled a small simply satisfied smile. "I'm glad you've agreed to allow me." He motioned for her to follow him as he left the tomb. "You will be relieved to hear that the process about which you will undergo was not written by a Sith at all. In fact, it was written by a Jedi Master. However," he stopped and turned to her, "I must warn you that this style of teaching isn't quite so simple. I will not be teaching you ways of the Dark to incorporate into yourself. In fact, I don't want you to think of me as a teacher at all. Think of me as more of a guide and the Dark itself will teach you. Because one does not simply dip into the teachings of the Dark Side and choose what knowledge they want and what knowledge they don't. They don't choose when to come out. Many think this way but all of them wrong. You are going to be tempted, you will turn, and you will be redeemed. So when we leave this tomb, I want you to leave the Light here. It will be here for you when you are finished. It will only hinder you going forward. So with that let us begin with the first step in understanding the the Dark Side of the Force, The Fall."


	10. Chapter 10

The sun was bright on Moraband but its heat not quite as harsh as Jakku or Ahch-To.

Aldir gave Rey a new set of clothes, her previous set tattered and singed from the crash. These new ones were made of similar material but darker in color and felt more like proper clothes than the cloth she'd sewn together herself.

She stood on the floor of a rotunda, the massive domed ceiling reaching hundreds of feet into the air. She felt awkward standing there before Aldir without a lightsaber and he'd yet to even mention needing one.

"What are you afraid of?" Aldir asked.

Rey considered his question, searching her mind for an answer.

"Do not think about it too much, it should just come to you. The Dark knows what you are afraid, the test here is if you can be honest with yourself. Being afraid is nothing to be ashamed of."

She closed her eyes, choosing her words carefully. "I'm afraid that...that without me the Resistance will fall. I'm afraid that they might already be," she breathed deep, "be gone."

"Go on."

Faceless figures came to her mind. "I'm afraid I'll never see my parents again."

"The Resistance is weak." Aldir said and Rey's eyes shot open. Aldir's voice had changed. It was no longer calm and thoughtful. Now it was deliberate and sharp, every word dripping with venom. "Every second that passes their hope fades. They gaze out the windows of their ships in hope that they will witness your return and eventually they will give up on you, figuring that you have given up on them. Maybe they have already surrendered. Your friends are probably dead, their corpses left to rot on some forsaken planet surface or burned up in the explosion of their ship."

Tears welled in her eyes. "What are you-"

"Your parents never cared about you. Because if they did they wouldn't have abandoned you on a planet made for garbage for fifteen years. That is what you were to them, garbage. A worthless mistake who brought nothing good to their lives. Or maybe they did love you and they still do. And every moment of every day of their lives they think of you, long to see you, wondering if you are still alive, if you are still where they left you. They want to come back for you but something is holding them back. And what a reunion it would be if you found them instead. But here you are, too lost and too afraid to even know where to begin."

She tried holding back but she couldn't, it was too much. She wept for the Resistance and for her friends and for her parents. But mostly she wept for herself because she knew in her heart that she was far too weak to make any difference.

"You are weak, young one. You are an insecure, doubtful, frightened, child. You are lying to yourself if you think you could stand against the might of the First Order. I have seen pupils crushed and killed by the Dark. What makes you think you are something different? If I-"

Aldir flew backward and slammed against the wall behind him. He fell to the floor on his stomach.

Rey stood with one arm reaching out, her palm open. Her tears were gone now, dried against her face. Her hair clung to her cheeks, her other hand tightened into a fist.

Aldir groaned and grunted as he pushed himself to his knees. He stared at Rey and she stared back. He reached up and touched just above his lip and found that he was bleeding. "Now we can move on."

Even from a distance Takodana was more pleasant to the eye than Jakku could ever hope to be.

"If I may, master," still the word _master_ took some effort to come out of Kylo Ren's mouth. "We've already searched and interrogated the area where the girl and her friends were hiding."

"I'm aware of that but seeing that our options are limited, retreading territory might not be the worst use of our time. Hux's men have already cleared out the base on D'qar. Rey wasn't there. Which means one of two things. One, she just barely escaped with the rest of those dogs or two, she's already found Skywalker."

Their shuttle touched down just outside the half destroyed cantina where Kylo had first captured Rey a few weeks ago.

Most of the creatures and persons working on the reconstruction of the cantina scattered, fleeing into the nearby treeline. A few of them stood their ground and watched Kylo, Allya, and the troopers exit the shuttle.

"Come to finish the job?" An old man resting his arm against a shovel glared at the two knights. Allya assumed him to be the leader.

Allya approached the workers with Kylo beside her. "We have no quarrel with you. I come in search of information." The man said nothing. "What's your name?"

"Ozan."

"Did any Resistance ever return here?"

Ozan shook his head. "Not since you people came and wrecked the place. And not since the hole in the sky opened up."

"Hole in the sky?" Allya asked.

Ozan motioned behind her with a nod of his head.

Both Allya and Kylo turned and looked up.

There in the expanse of the bright blue sky was a black spot, distant but visible.

"That's where the Hosnian system was," Kylo said.

"What is that?" Allya whispered to herself. "Commander."

A trooper stepped forward. "Ma'am."

"Prepare the ship, set coordinates for the Hosnian system."

The journey up took less than an hour but to Kylo it felt like several. Just laying eyes on the black spot made him uneasy. Now that they hurdled toward it, he felt even worse.

"Approach slowly," Allya told the pilot, "Keep an eye on the gravity meters." The last thing she needed now was to be caught in an immense pull and sucked away to some other end of the Galaxy.

The black spot was massive, a giant black hole cut into space. Blue wisps of light flowed in and out of the black, swimming though the area. Allya glanced down and saw the gravitational meters constant.

Kylo remained at the back of the ship while Allya gave her orders from the front. He felt nauseous and a cold sweat had broken out on his-

 _...help…_

He flinched at the sound of the voice, a whisper in his ear. He turned, startled, and found no one beside him.

 _...please…_

He tried to stand but fell to his knees instead.

 _...run…_

The voices of a man, a woman, a child all whispered to him. More of them came breathing words and phrases directly into his head.

 _...why…_

 _...save us…_

 _...destroyer…_

So many voices all simultaneously whispering to him that soon they were no longer words, but a wind. It began as a breeze, the words so softly spoken. But soon the whispers turned into yells and the yells into screams. The winds buffeted any thought that tried to cross into his mind.

Every muscle in his body tensed and went rigid. He groaned, his eyes beginning to water as he tried to force his muscles to obey. His face went red with strain, chords standing out on his neck.

One of the troopers beside Allya said, "Master," and motioned at Kylo. Allya turned and saw him crawling. "Kylo," she said, "What's wrong?"

Kylo tried opening his mouth to speak but found his jaw was locked in place. He groaned through his teeth and slowly, painfully lifted his right arm and pointed. Allya followed the direction and found he was pointing out the window where the great black circle swirled and flowed. "Commander," Allya said, her eyes fixed on the circle. "Get us back into the jump. Take us back to the surface."


End file.
